August 2022: I got hit by a car!
Well, first of all, I got hit by a car. This was on 9 August, while I was doing Deliveroo in the evening. Evenings aren't my preferred time to ride because my energy and eyesight both decline when it gets dark, but Roo had an incentive from 4pm to 9pm. My mind, I confess, had been miles away when I collided with a taxi that was emerging from a concealed exit.
No one was badly hurt, except maybe my bike (and the customer's food). But I got a pretty deep scrape in my elbow which put me out of commission for the next 2 weeks. I learnt a lot about wound dressing then, namely: BUY THE GOOD BANDAGES!
While the injury healed, I couldn't do most of the usual things: gym, swimming, yoga and so on. Cycling was also out, at least for a while, on account of the broken bike. After some trial and error (and procrastination), I finally replaced the wheel. But the fork was, well, forked, so the bike keeps veering left unless I put asymmetric pressure on the handlebars.
Anyway, I found myself with a lot of free time this month. I spent a few days catching up with friends and a few desultory afternoons reading at McDonald's or sitting in the jacuzzi at my parents' condo. But most of my newfound free time was spent on cooking and writing.
Cooking: I read Mark Bittman's Vegan Before 6 and gained a sudden fervour for cooking with vegetarian protein: tempeh, tofu, and beans. These are among my favourite things to eat at restaurants but I've never had much success cooking them. Because plant protein is generally tasteless, it requires significant planning and prepwork in the form of building up flavour elsewhere in the dish.
So far, the tofu soups and braises work the best. I also made quite good marinated and air fried tempeh cubes, but the leftovers started going bad on Day 4 in the fridge.
I've also been making matsoni yogurt, which is now on the breakfast menu almost daily. It's the easiest and most satisfying thing ever.
Writing: I am starting a new blog for the umpteenth time since I quit my job 10 months ago to freelance/semi-retire/whatever you wanna call it. I really want to chronicle the things I'm learning along the way, but I kept feeling self-conscious and stopping.
Separately, I also found it tricky to find a blogging platform that fit. I started with Wordpress, but I couldn't get along with the Gutenberg editor. Then I tried hipster platform Substack, but it was horrendous for SEO and maintaining an archive. I considered Medium, but there's simply too much cringe on that platform. So now I'm here on Ghost, hoping this will work out. (One day I will get around to reviewing each of these platforms!)
The other major thing that happened this month was caring for Dozy at the end of her life. I suppose I was quite lucky because she was a good healthy rabbit all the way until the last couple of weeks. It was a little tiring, mostly in the emotional sense. I still think of her but I'm glad she's no longer dying.
I think that's about it for the month.
Oh, we've now completed Month 4 of the great semi-retirement experiment. (I've been freelance since October; Jon since May.) Our days currently follow this routine:
| 9am to 11am | Wake up, pet stuff, breakfast, crossword |
| 11am to 1pm | Jon: Grab shift. Clara: cycling or yoga |
| LUNCH | |
| 2pm to 6pm | Gym, swim, read, etc. |
| 6pm to 8pm | Jon: Grab shift. Clara: write |
| DINNER | |
| 9pm to 1am | Pet stuff, food prep, maybe work, maybe TV, read, sleep |
Just closing the books on August: hmm, food inflation is definitely happening. My dining out expenses used to hover around $150, but in the past 2 months it's been well over $200 ($249 in August). Other regular expenses were normal: groceries $222, pet supplies $114.
I'm not worried, though, because my freelance income is still pretty good. Although, having heard from friends about their latest paychecks, I think I'll start preparing to raise my rates.
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